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December
E-News from Citizens Against Government
Waste
December
Porker of the Month:
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey
There
are few more costly, wasteful, and
mismanaged projects than the Federal
Aviation Administration's (FAA) Standard
Terminal Automation Replacement System
(STARS). Blakey
became the FAA administrator in
September 2002, and is responsible for
modernization of the nation's air
traffic control system. The
project has been underway for nearly two
decades, and the current focus is now on
STARS as the solution to what has become
a very expensive problem. However,
since the beginning, STARS has been in
trouble, experiencing failures including
dangerous technical glitches.
Despite these problems and a
General Accounting Office report
released in September outlining serious
shortcomings with STARS, Blakey insists
on pushing the program. For
continuing a costly, ineffectual, and
possibly dangerous program, FAA
Administrator Marion Blakey is CAGW's
Porker of the Month.
Read
more about the Porker of the Month here.
Click
here
to read about the recent decision by the
U.S. Department of Transportation's
Office of the Inspector General to
conduct an audit of the FAA's terminal
automation modernization program,
focusing on STARS.
Two
States Continue Microsoft Litigation
On
November 1, U.S. District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly upheld the settlement
agreement Microsoft Corporation reached
with the federal government and nine
states last year in its long-running
antitrust trial.
Judge Kollar-Kotelly rejected the
arguments of nine other states and the
District of Columbia
, who opposed the settlement.
Still, two states have chosen to
continue their case against Microsoft.
The Attorneys General of
Massachusetts
and
West Virginia
have announced they will appeal Judge
Kollar-Kotelly's decision.
Read
more about the
Massachusetts
and
West
Virginia
appeals.
Massachusetts
and
West
Virginia
residents:
Write to your Attorney General
today and demand an end to this case
that has already cost taxpayers an
estimated $35 million!
Click here
for
Massachusetts
and here
for
West
Virginia
!
Click
here to read the
December 3 Deseret
News (
Salt Lake City
) article citing CAGW's opposition to
continuing the legal pursuit of
Microsoft.
Vote
for the Porker of the Year!
Help
elect CAGW's Porker of the Year for
2002!
Click
here to read about the nominees and
cast your vote.
SEC
Reaches a Partial Settlement with
WorldCom
The
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
has reached a partial settlement with
telecom giant WorldCom, in which the
company may not be fined for its
fraudulent practices.
CAGW blasted the decision for its
leniency and contradiction of government
policy
.
In addition to filing for
bankruptcy, WorldCom has admitted to
committing at least a $9 billion
accounting fraud, and two of its top
executives have already been arrested
while more investigations continue. Read
more about the settlement here.
Join
CAGW Today!
CAGW's
strength lies in the hundreds of
thousands of taxpayers who support the
organization's work. Your tax-deductible
contribution will safeguard your
interests in
Washington
by helping CAGW investigate and expose
how government spends or misspends your
tax dollars. Please click
here to make a donation.
CAGW
Commentary
"Budget
Gridlock Doesn't Hurt Republicans,"
By Tom Schatz
Representatives
and senators have long avowed they can't
win re-election without larding up the
appropriations bills with pet projects
and higher spending. Last month's
incumbent-friendly election should lay
such claims to rest once and for all.
Only two of the 13 annual
appropriations bills were approved
before Election Day. Yet
incumbents had a re-election rate of 98
percent in the House and more than 90
percent in the Senate. There is
nothing to fear from slowing down
government spending, and indeed, it may
prosper incumbents, especially
Republicans, to do more of it.
Click
here to read more commentary.
December
Wastewatcher now online!
In
the spirit of the holidays, CAGW offers
our list of who's been naughty and nice
in government this year. Click
here to find out who deserves taxpayers'
thanks and who should get ashes and
switches as well as to read the other
Wastewatcher stories for December.
Click
here to read the December
Wastewatcher!
WasteWire
Click
here to read the December
WasteWire - a
bi-monthly compendium from CAGW of the
costly ways in which the government
spends public money.
CAGW
in the News...
Denver Post (
November
29, 2002
):
Federal
workforce growing under Bush
Las
Vegas
Review-Journal (
November 26, 2002
):
Not-so-happy
birthday
FoxNews.Com
(
November
26, 2002
):
Bush
signs Terror Insurance Bill
***
Citizens
Against Government Waste is the nation's
largest taxpayer watchdog group with
over one million members and supporters
nationwide.
It is a nonpartisan, nonprofit
organization dedicated to eliminating
waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement
in government.
For more information about CAGW,
visit our website at www.cagw.org.
To join today, please click
here.
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